By GENE JOHNSON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, September 29, 2006

The Coast Guard appointed a new captain to command the icebreaker Healy on Friday, and an agency spokesman said the investigation into how two of the ship's divers died in the Arctic Ocean could take months.

The Healy's former commander, Capt. Douglas Russell, was temporarily relieved of duty last month after Lt. Jessica Hill, 31, of St. Augustine, Fla., and Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Steven Duque, 22, of Miami died during a training dive 500 miles north of Barrow, Alaska.

Rear Adm. Clifford Pearson made that removal permanent Friday, citing "a loss of confidence in Russell's continued ability to command." He named Capt. Tedric Lindstrom, chief of response with the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle, the new commanding officer.

Russell has been reassigned to administrative duties.

The Coast Guard has released little information about the Aug. 17 deaths, which remain under investigation, and Russell's superiors have not said why they lost confidence in him. Under standard protocol, the commanding officer is ultimately responsible for the safety of all divers.

At the time, the Healy, which can sail through ice up to 8 feet thick, was carrying a group of 35 scientists studying the Arctic sea floor. Witnesses have said that shipmates had been taking a two-hour break on the ice -- with some playing football and going for walks -- shortly before Hill and Duque began their dive in a small patch of open water near the ship's bow.

The two were tethered to the surface by ropes, so that they would not become disoriented under the ice. A team monitoring them pulled them up when they noticed something was wrong.

Russell wrote on the ship's Web site after the accident that Arctic Operations would continue after a four-day stop in Kodiak, Alaska. Instead, the 420-foot Healy sailed back to its home port of Seattle under the command of Russell's predecessor.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith said Friday that no specific timeline has been set for the two investigations into the deaths.

One investigation is focusing on finding the cause of the deaths in hopes of preventing such accidents in the future; the other is a broader administrative review that could lead to findings of blame.

Lindstrom lives in Port Orchard and has been with the Coast Guard since 1978.

He has served as commanding officer of several Coast Guard ships and as a mathematics professor at the Coast Guard Academy.